Cellphones Won't Soon Replace Today's GPS Devices
More cellphones can now lead us precisely to our destination, thanks to cheap chips that talk to navigation satellites. So will we dump all the navigation gear that is a hot-selling item this holiday season? Not soon, analysts agree.
There's no beating the bigger screens on stand-alone GPS, says Caroline Chow, a market analyst at Canalys. The bigger screens on what the industry calls "personal navigation devices" make directions easier to follow and easier to access than on a cell's small display. And navigation is simpler on PNDs because that's their primary purpose. The benefits outweigh the costs, especially with today's prices crashing below $100 for starter PND models. "I'm amazed at how low they're selling these things," she says.
Device makers like Garmin, TomTom, and Mio have done a great job at making a complicated function—navigation—simple to use, says Richard Robinson, a market analyst at iSuppli. "PNDs currently enjoy very high user-satisfaction ratings," he wrote in a recent report. The device makers need to guard that advantage over cellphones and not add too many extra functions, such as viewing digital pics and videos.
Cell companies also collect a monthly fee for navigation and sometimes charge for airtime, Robinson wrote. Those fees confuse and discourage consumers, who like the simplicity of the one-time charge for a dedicated navigation device. In short, while GPS-enabled phones pose a threat, all signs point to a growing market for PNDs.
Tags: cellphones | GPS
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Reader Comments
I feel a little confused, limit as upset !
Well, I read you.
Why keeping idea that using a cell phone is harder than a PND ? Many of them just need a tap to start the navigation tool (TomTom, iGo8, Navigon...), the GPS part of the device is started at the same time ! A tap is an easy going operation, isn't it ? And then, you just find all your contacts (TomTom, iGo) in a very easy way. PND can't link with contacts in a so smart way.
The two only things I agree with Caroline Chow are :
1 - Screen size : yes a phone couldn't be as large as a PND. Screen phone are little bit less than 3 inches, PND could be 5 or nearly 7 inches to be great and readable (also about sound capacities). Well, may be next gen of PND (and cell phone navigation programs) won't need anymore a screen, but only sounds. Vocals are getting better and better nowadays.
2 - "I'm amazed at how low they're selling these things" : well I'm too ! Think, or phones are realy too expansive, or PND are a little bit too cheap ! Market made a choice with fashion.
But don't forget that PDA's market re-raised 3,5 years ago with achievement of navigation capacities. Some near Amsterdam
Netherlands have perfectly well taken this kind of opportunities.
Yes, PND should not read videos or photos, as this is not a natural built-in capacity. But hand-held have done this for more than 7 years now. And hand-held is a (small) open computer, as PND is not and will never be.
But PND is like Richard Robinson says : very easy for everyone, with a great accessibility. It may win at this point, but as radio for cars, it may become integrate in many models ! As far as I can see, it then stays in the car now (radio car market changed a lot these 4 last years), but the phone shouldn't : it will always come with us, in our pocket.
Open vs closed technology ?... Enbeeded vs unmovable ?... Readable or listenable ?... Future of technology still hard to guess !
Regards from France !
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